


Riddick: Pitch Black Crystal

by SholmosBunyip



Category: Pitch Black (2000), Riddick (2013), The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, The Dark Crystal (1982)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Chronicles ripped off DarkCrystalDuneFlashGordonBladeRunnerWhatElseAmIForgetting, Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, I love Riddick/Vaako, Maybe I Should Have Written A Riddick/Vaako Story, Multi, Science Fiction, Vaako loves Riddick Forever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:48:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28102710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SholmosBunyip/pseuds/SholmosBunyip
Summary: Set after Chronicles. AU in which Aereon had contact with Aughra and opens a path for Riddick to bring Kyra back to life. Sorry, Dahl.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There were way too many similarities between these movies to ignore this idea! I won't list them all here, but have highlighted most of them in this story, which is the first part of an incomplete work. One subtle connection (nerd trivia) I spotted that I won't be able to work into the story but want to share: Kyra's arm guards in Chronicles are strikingly similar to Kira's (and Jen's) sleeves in The Dark Crystal- they come to a point on the backs of their hands. I hope you enjoy, and leave suggestions :)

Aereon stood near a massive column in the Great Hall of Necropolis and surveyed the room with a smug smile. She indulged in a few moments of pure relief, pausing to absorb it, breathing out fear, breathing in the scene: every Necromonger present kneeling at the feet of their new Lord Marshal. Her smile dissipated when she saw his face. He was no longer looking out at the sea of people awaiting his command. His silver eyes were focused on the dead woman on the floor. They were filled with anguish. Her voice rang loudly in the silence when she stepped forward to speak.

“Lord Marshal Riddick. If I may suggest-”

“It is not your place to suggest anything to the Lord Marshal, Elemental,” Vaako interrupted, his voice a dangerous growl.

“Perhaps not, but that is, ultimately, something that must be decided by the Lord Marshal, wouldn’t you agree?”

Vaako struggled to keep his anger from showing. “Yes.”

She climbed the stairs to the throne and kneeled on one of the highest steps, not to show fealty or subservience, but to make herself non-threatening. She didn’t know where he had gone in his mind, but she knew he was an Alpha Furyan, and to call him out of a reverie of rage was to invite his wrath, if not the anger of his entire race. He was still ignoring everyone in the room. She tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck, putting her face closer to his line of sight. She held out her hands, palms up, and spoke again, in a soft voice that would not offend his sensitive ears, and that the Necromongers could not hear.

“Riddick.”

He blinked away the vision of fire. The Purifier hadn’t flinched as he walked into the heat of Crematoria’s sunlight. Riddick envied him. His body had burned away in less than a minute. All the pain of a lifetime gone. Strangled, stabbed, shot. Those sorts of hurts Riddick had borne often, and without complaint. This, though… this he didn’t want to live with one minute more.

“I hear you, Aereon. What do you want?” His voice was a deep, quiet rumble.

“To help you. Acknowledge your supplicants, quickly, send them away, do not show what they perceive to be weakness.”

Almost instantly, without warning, he surged from the throne and caught her throat in his fist. He pressed his face close to hers and snarled into it, saying softly, “Good advice. You know, the prophecy didn’t say anything about this.”

She was able to speak, his grip was for show, so she whispered sadly, “Prophets don’t know everything.”

The crowd murmured and shifted. He stood, stiffening his spine, and faced them. They were quiet again.

“For any of you that don’t know me, I’m Richard B. Riddick. Escaped convict, murderer, Lord Marshal. I’m not some holy half-dead, and I sure as hell haven’t seen the Underverse. I’m an Alpha Furyan, maybe the last because of this fuck,” he pointed at Zhylaw’s body, and his voice rose to a roar, “who couldn’t kill _me_ when I was an _infant!_ I will not hesitate to make it your due time if you come at me. You are dismissed.”

The crowd began to rise and file out, parting as they walked around the body of their fallen demigod. Aereon stayed on her knees at Riddick’s side, and waited patiently.

“Lord Marshall, we are poised to strike the final blow on Helion Prime. What are your orders?” Vaako, who had ascended half the staircase, spoke quietly, eyes averted.

Interesting. The commanders could have completed this conquest without his input, without his knowledge, even. What did it mean that Vaako gave him the option?

“Stand down,” Riddick responded suspiciously, and just as quietly. He could smell Zhylaw’s blood drifting toward them, mixing with the ship’s air.

Immediately, Vaako nodded and bowed slightly. “I will see to it, personally, that the Conquest Icons are recalled from the surface.”

Riddick raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll just tag along to the war room.”

Most of the crowd had dispersed, but two women were hovering nearby, clearly waiting to approach. Vaako glanced at them when Riddick did.

“I will lead the way, Lord Marshal, when your business with these ladies is concluded.”

“What business?”

“These were concubines of Lord Marshall Zhylaw. They are yours, now, and are likely waiting to present themselves.”

Riddick frowned and grumbled at the women, “You two can go, you’re free. I don’t own people, and if I’m in charge here, no one will.”

Instead of the relief he expected, the women’s faces registered something close to despair. Vaako pursed his lips before offering, “If you dismiss them, they have nothing, Lord Marshall- no home and no trade. This is the Necromonger way- they have been kept by the Lord Marshall since they were converted. It was their purpose, their reason for being- consorts to the most powerful man among us. You think you are setting them free, but to their minds they are being rejected and dishonored.”

Riddick closed his eyes and sighed, “I suppose Necropolis wasn’t built in a day. So they share the Lord Marshal’s room?”

“You have a suite of rooms, my Lord, I will show you the way.”

“You two- go home. I’ll be there later. Vaako, I need a stasis chamber for… my friend. Until I find somewhere for her funeral.” His expression began to fill with pain again as he looked down at her lifeless body.

Aereon cleared her throat and he viciously cut himself off from emotion. The Necro concubines had already walked away, arms linked, but Vaako was there to see his grief briefly reemerge.

“We can take her to one, now. I must warn you, however, it is not fitting for a Necromonger to mourn death, or preserve bodies. She was a convert, after all...”

“She was not with you! She converted to save her own ass, like you all did, but she wasn’t one of you. Whatever you do to converts, it didn’t take with her. Or the Purifier. They walked among you but their minds were not with you.” He glared at Vaako who held his gaze for a few moments before looking over his shoulder.

As they spoke, a small group of Necros had arrived to collect Zhylaw’s body. Four of them lifted his limbs in unison and took him out of the hall.

“What will they do with him?” Riddick was curious.

“The body will be stripped of resources and fed to a power generator.” Vaako considered Riddick for a moment before continuing. “You will be expected to convert. There is a ceremony...”

“Not gonna happen.”

“You will find it… exceedingly difficult to remain Lord Marshal if you do not receive the mark.”

“Is that a threat, Vaako? Is this you threatening me?” Riddick’s tone was conversational, only his hand hanging next to a blade on his thigh gave Vaako any hint of danger.

“It’s a warning, from one who would support you.” He spoke through his teeth.

Riddick’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he stared at Vaako but addressed Aereon. “You might wanna stand up now. We’re going.” He looked up to the balcony and said loudly, “And if I smell you anywhere near me, Dame Vaako, I will end you.” He was gratified to see her emerge from the shadows and slink off, trailing behind her the scent of lust and envy.

He crouched over Kyra, allowed himself to stroke her hair, and gathered her into his arms. Carrying her like that, he couldn’t look away from her face. “Show me that stasis chamber.”

Vaako bowed, and led the way.

****************************************

“You’re in more danger than you know, Furyan.” Aereon was at the end of her considerable patience. They were finally in the Lord Marshall’s suite, and she would have her say.

Riddick was tired. His soul hurt. He didn’t need this. “Really? I’m in some kind of danger worse than being trapped on a ship the size of a city full of death cult freaks who want to put me through a trial by pain and could start trying to murder me any time now?”

She was silent for a moment. “Well, I suppose that does cover it nicely. It won’t be long before the assassination attempts begin. You should consider your exit strategy.”

He slumped lower in his chair and leaned his head back. The light was dim, so he pulled his goggles down to hang around his neck. “Maybe I should. But maybe I don’t really care anymore.”

She shook her head. “No. Underneath your crushing pain, you have no true wish to die. You showed me that earlier, with your hand at my throat. You may think you want to die, but only because… because it feels like a part of you is already dead.”

Riddick closed his eyes and conceded, “She was a part of me.”

“Tell me about her, who she was to you.”

He thought of the planet, her goggles, her shaved head, her unwavering confidence in him, her instant attachment to him. The bond he felt with her, affection, even, as soon as he met her. The need to protect her warring with his usually imperative instinct for self-preservation. “I didn’t know her long. But she saved my life, physically and spiritually. She was willing to kill for me when she was only twelve years old. I didn’t want her to end up like me. I didn’t know it then, but she wasn’t trying to be like me. She was trying to be who she was. She pretended it was a game. Did stupid shit and blamed me for it. What the fuck, she was just a kid. She was in a lot of pain last five years. But she was smart and tough, wouldn’t let me give up when I felt beaten, wouldn’t give up on me, and wouldn’t turn on me even after the Necros converted her...” Something was tickling the back of his mind in a way that made his skin crawl. His animal side, maybe the Furyan side, knew something the man didn’t, and it was fucking irritating.

“Where did she come from?” Aereon refocused his attention.

“Some shitty colony orphanage, ran away. We had that in common, too. Look, I’ve got this feeling… I know of two people who couldn’t be converted. Kyra, and the Purifier. He was Furyan. What if Kyra… ”

The Elemental nodded, as if she had only been waiting for him to make the connection. Damn her. He folded his arms across his chest and glared at her.

She did him the courtesy of looking apologetic. “I wanted to hear your assessment. I couldn’t be sure, but the odds were good. Riddick, there’s something you must hear. What people often consider coincidences are far from it. The balance of the Uni-Verse demands certain things- some people must meet, some events must take place… When Necromongers talk about dying in due time as opposed to having an untimed death, they distort the Uni-Versal truth, which is that all deaths are in due time.” She raised a hand to gently quiet him as he appeared about to object, then continued slowly, “But sometimes, very rarely, the balance requires a death to be reversed.”

Riddick contemplated the metaphysics for a long moment. “I’m thinking that if she was Furyan, she could have been the last… the last female.”

“I think it is very likely that she was one of the last.”

“And you want to, somehow, bring her back to life?”

“I think the balance of the Uni-Verse demands it.”

“Why? So that she can keep the Furyan race from going extinct?”

“ ‘She?’ ”

“Yeah, ‘she.’ What’s the problem?” He knew what the problem was, obviously, and almost cringed at Aereon’s smirk, and the course the conversation would take.

Kyra had been like his little sister. Five years hadn’t changed that. On Crematoria he had expected to fall easily into his role as her protective older brother, but she had confounded him with her competence, her anger, and something more.

When he first saw her, after those five years, she was a woman he had never met. Beautiful, and all kinds of deadly, she filled his chest with heat. Her face, her body… but, then, she was a stranger he knew.

Unconsciously his hand went to his cheek to touch the faint line where she’d cut him. She was his little grown up sister who was still a kid inside. A hurt kid. He couldn’t be with her like that, like the Elemental insinuated. But he knew that he would do anything to bring her back, if such a thing was possible.

“The problem is that you’re being deliberately obtuse. She would need a cooperative Furyan male to… breed with. But, no, that wouldn’t be the only reason forces would align to reverse her death, maybe not even the primary one. The Verse recognizes selfless acts committed on behalf of balance, and creates ways to correct loss. Her loss, your loss. However, because you brought it up, suppose that there are other surviving Furyan males, living among humans, or perhaps in isolation on a deserted world- I think any number of scenarios are equally likely. If she is revived, would you seek out a mate for her?”

The growl that escaped him before he cut it off was made of pain. He remembered the rage he felt toward the rapist guards on Crematoria when they ganged up on her. He was able to stay almost perfectly calm outwardly as he gave vent to that rage- they touched her without consent, they hurt her. Enough of a reason to rage, and he had no need to admit to himself there was anything more to it. To think of her as another man’s willing woman, though, gave him a hurt he could not hide from.

“Furyans mate for life. They did, I should say. And they chose their own mates, they chose a person their spirit cried out for. Furyans weren’t all alike, Riddick. What are the odds of you meeting this Furyan girl with a spirit so like yours? Is it a coincidence?”

He felt like he’d been washed and wrung out. “I’m going to assume those are rhetorical questions. I get it. I didn’t know how I felt. I’m not entirely accustomed to feeling.” He was explaining, not apologizing. “And I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of Kyra being my… mate. Can’t think about touching her like that, can’t think about her wanting anyone else. Fuck! How would I even _have_ this dilemma? How the fuck can you bring her back from the fucking dead?”

Aereon walked around the table to sit near him. As she took off her head scarf and folded it neatly, she began to tell him a story she had learned nearly two centuries earlier from an Earth Elemental named Aughra.

*********************************************

When he woke up in a huge soft bed, his dream of crystals and alien creatures lingered, cloudy, at the fringe of fading sleep. The people Aereon told him about, their story, had invaded his subconscious and caused him to sleep fitfully, dreaming of their broken world and painful trials, but not of their healing. His sundered heart didn’t allow his mind to focus on that. And so his dreams were nightmares.

Several key aspects of the tale Aereon had told him were chillingly familiar. A race of cruel, twisted beings- Skeksis- who lorded over their world causing devastation, were haunted by a prophecy they believed foretold their destruction at the hands of another race- Gelflings. The Skeksis, full of fear and hate, systematically wiped the Gelflings from the face of their planet. Genocide. Until only two remained: a boy, and a girl, who met seemingly by chance and protected each other from their mutual enemies. Eventually they fulfilled the prophecy, but in the process, the girl was killed after an act of utter selflessness. Her name was Kira.

To fulfill the prophecy, the Gelflings, Kira and Jen, had replaced a broken piece of a huge prism- a crystal- that is able to refract the combined light of their three suns during an alignment that only occurs once every thousand trine. That is when Jen replaced the crystal shard to make the prism whole again- during a Great Conjuction, when the light of all three suns combined into one. When he did that, the pure light that shone through the crystal destroyed the Skeksis. But not in the way the Skeksis had feared. They had forgotten who they were. They weren’t truly destroyed. They were reintegrated into their whole selves, re-combined with a race of kind, gentle people known as Mystics. When the crystal cracked, they had been fractured into two dichotomous races. When the crystal was healed they became one again- people called the urSkeks. The urSkeks, incomprehensibly wise after assimilating a thousand years of experience gained by each of their two halves, and radiating the internalized light of the Uni-Verse, mediated the resurrection of Kira.

He closed his eyes again and tried to imagine holding Kyra before towering white glowing urSkeks, hugging her dead body to his chest, feeling the shock of warm breath on his neck as she was suffused with life. He couldn’t open himself to that hope. Aereon had never even met the Earth Elemental who shared that story. Supposedly, Aughra had traveled by astral projection and transmitted memories to Aereon. That didn’t seem possible, and the story itself didn’t seem possible. Even if it was all true, there was no guarantee that the urSkeks would bring Kyra back to life. Why would they?

In addition, according to Aughra’s memories, the huge shining beings would be present for each conjunction to use the crystal as a conduit to Uni-Versal truth, to reconnect with the sea of interconnected energies that ebbed and flowed through all consciousness. But the next Great Conjunction was 800 years in the future. The urSkeks wouldn’t visit Thra until then, far too late to help them.

When single shines the triple sun…

He sat up, suddenly electric with a suspicion he needed to substantiate.

********************************************

So far, Riddick had been able to avoid the concubines. But when he flung open the doors of his bed chamber that led to the dining area, they were there, at breakfast, with Aereon. Both of them rose quickly to cross the room and bow. Aereon rolled her eyes and took another bite of melon.

“I hope you slept well, My Lord. Are you hungry? Would you like us to assist you in finding clothing? Or attend you in any other way?” The woman with the shaved head had a beautiful voice, with an accent he couldn’t place. She didn’t attempt to hide her interest in his bare chest when she offered “any other” assistance, but she didn’t leer or try to touch him. Under different circumstances he would be very pleased to have her attention, but this aspect of “the Necromonger way” short-circuited his desire.

She wasn’t a free woman offering him the gift of her self. She smelled… receptive. She would do whatever he asked, sexually or otherwise, and compartmentalize her own feelings and desires, if they hadn’t been burned out of her somehow. It was her duty to the Lord Marshal. If things were different, he might have looked at her as a challenge.

Maybe he could have broken her programming, allowed her to reclaim her free will. He could see her with him in the huge bed, waking him up in the middle of the night with need, her beautiful voice in his ear asking, sweet like, for his attention. He could see her riding him, taking her pleasure from him while giving him his, hands planted on his bare chest as her hips swiveled and her body began to shake… And then, for just a moment, her shaved head made him think of Jack.

His deep voice was still rough with sleep. “Thank you. I’m hungry. Have you eaten?”

Momentarily floored by his solicitude, she found herself talking to his muscular back as he walked toward the table, which held a variety of appetizing platters. “A little, My Lord.”

He saw their plates had hardly been touched. “Eat your food, both of you, don’t worry about me.” The smell of their surprise hit him like a wave. “Aereon, I have a hunch I can’t shake, I need to know if it’s true.”

Aereon glanced at the women seating themselves. “Perhaps you should tell me about it after breakfast.”

He nodded as he began to fill a plate.

********************************************

No one was in the hallway outside the Lord Marshal’s suite. All the corridors were empty. Awfully quiet for a city. The back of Riddick’s neck prickled. As they walked he surreptitiously scanned the walls, ceilings, and corners, eyes hidden behind his goggles. Aereon was quietly calculating the reason for their solitude. They looked at each other.

Riddick shrugged. “Must be a holiday.”

They both knew better. They had reached the same unspoken conclusion well before they reached the war room and found it empty, as well. It seemed likely that the commanders were assembled elsewhere, and that she and Riddick were being watched, had been watched, even in his suite. Couldn’t be helped now.

“What’s this hunch of yours, Riddick?” Aereon prompted.

There was a table in the war room that was a sort of astronomical map. He’d seen it when Vaako brought him here to recall the Conquest Icons, and was examining it more closely now.

“I’ll tell you, I just have to figure out how to work this thing. I think I know where Aughra’s planet is.”

“The planet is called Thra. It’s in a trinary star system we know as M-34...”

“...4/G,” Riddick chimed in, shaking his head as he bent over the map table, unable to find even a power switch. After a moment he smashed his fist into it. “Work, dammit!” The table came to life, displaying the astronomical bodies closest to them, showing the position of the fleet.

Aereon was amused. “That was effective. It must respond to intention and will. You know M-344/G. How?”

He scowled and drawled sarcastically, “Just another coincidence.” He looked at Aereon and pushed his goggles up. “It’s the system where I met Kyra. She was called Jack then.”

Aereon smiled sadly. “Wonders never cease, hmm?”

Riddick crossed his arms and stroked his chin. “I want to see system M-344/G.”

The table seemed to stutter before something unfamiliar appeared. From his experience piloting away from the desert planet of monsters, he expected to see a system with three stars and three planets. This was different.

“There’s too many planets and moons, here. What is this? I flew a skiff through that system myself. The chart I flew by had three planets.”

“It could be that this system is so vast and the orbits of its bodies so complex that its full extent was not known to the makers of your chart,” Aereon postulated.

“Figures. Some sources only count two suns. Most people in the Verse avoid going through there because of the complex celestial dynamics. Strange gravitational effects. An unknown sun plus unaccounted planets would do that. The closest shipping lane was abandoned because of that kind of strangeness. Which one is Thra?”

The table provided labels for the planets and moons before Aereon could point it out. It was one of the planets that was new to Riddick. He studied the system carefully.

“Which planet did you meet Kyra on, Riddick?”

He pointed to M6-117, which was labeled “Hades” on the Necromonger chart. He quickly spoke, to stave off the memories of that place, “I want to see the system in motion- show me the orbital paths, show me ten Thra cycles. ”

The suns, planets, and moons sprang up from the table and began a complicated three-dimensional dance. He watched the whole beautiful system as the paths the celestial bodies would take for the next ten cycles were traced, some orbits wildly eccentric, some more regular. He’d missed something.

“Run it back to the present. Put M6-117 at the center. Run it slowly.” He focused on the suns. Suddenly it happened. “Stop- there.”

During the first cycle the three suns aligned, briefly, from the perspective of the dead planet. Seeing it, he couldn’t deny the possibility of hope. How is this possible? How? Not long ago, all of this mystical shit would have been laughable. Crystals, Furyan wrath, Quasi-Dead, hoodoo holy light. There was more to this Verse than he knew. He would have to see this through.

Aereon stood over the table and looked down at the map. She spoke almost reverently, “A Great Conjuction, but not on Thra. On your planet. Soon.”

“Sister, that’s not my planet. That planet belongs to monsters, and ghosts. Kyra and I were there for another kind of conjunction- total solar eclipse. It happens every 22 years. That’s when the monsters come out to feed. Barely made it out alive. My hunch was that we might have to go back. I have no idea how it’s all going to work, but it feels like this is gonna be part of it.”

The white-haired Elemental nodded her agreement, her mind full of the web of connections and calculations this situation evoked. The balance of opposites was plain. Their bond was forged on that planet in total darkness, and would be reborn in all-consuming light. A thrill of recognition passed through her, and she nodded again. “I believe you’re right. Let us see where we are in relation to Thra.”

The table obliged immediately, expanding the map until it included both locations. A note that indicated the intervening distance appeared.

“I’m gonna need a cryo ship, and I’ll need to go talk to Aughra first. Unless you can traverse the astral plane and get some information, maybe cut that leg off my journey.”

“Unfortunately, that is not a feat I can perform. We will, as you say, need a ship. There is no time to waste. The conjunction will occur in seven months, and it will take us six to travel that distance.”

Riddick looked at her sideways, appraisingly. “Aereon, you don’t have to go.”

“I know.”

After a thoughtful pause he lifted his chin at her. “Alright, together, then. I’ll have to deal with the Necros first, then find a ship.”

“When you talk to the Necromongers, I must warn you, do not underestimate their… zeal.”

His face was grim. “I’m counting on it.”

************************************************

Tracking down Vaako hadn’t been too difficult. Riddick had simply walked out of the war room with Aereon, and begun bellowing for him as he headed back to his suite. By the time they arrived, Vaako was following them down the corridor, jaw clenched. When they were inside, Riddick had wasted no time.

“I don’t have the energy to pretend that you haven’t heard everything we’ve discussed the past couple days, so I’m gonna get right to the point. I need to leave. There’s a chance that there’s some people who can bring Kyra back from the dead and I need to find them. Don’t tell me that it’s not fitting for a Necromonger to wanna bring someone back from the dead, Zhylaw crossed the threshold and returned. And, anyway, I’m not a Necromonger. Furyans weren’t made for this faith. Ask the Purifier, ask Kyra. They couldn’t be converted. Neither can I.”

Vaako quietly considered how to respond while Riddick glared. He didn’t try to deny that the commanders had been spying on him. He didn’t try to explain that they were all acutely aware the new Lord Marshal did not share their faith. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I shouldn’t be the Lord Marshal. Way I see it, I wouldn’t be in this position if Kyra hadn’t stepped in. If you hadn’t stepped in. Way I see it, we killed him together. Kyra had my back, brought Zhylaw to his knees. Then I just backed your play. I’m the one that struck the killing blow, but I wouldn’t have been able to without the two of you. Doesn’t seem fair that I’m the only one of us that gets to keep what we all killed. You’re the only one of us with faith.”

Vaako was decisive. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I hesitated. When I could have struck him down, I hesitated.”

“You drove him right into my blade. It wouldn’t have happened without you.”

Vaako sighed and turned away. He walked to the doorway and waved his hand over the wall. Riddick realized there had been a very high frequency noise in the background that was now silent. It was only detectable in its absence. The listening devices.

Vaako turned to face him again and spoke to Aereon, “Elemental, you should leave.”

She looked at Riddick. He nodded, so she glided out of the room.

When they were alone, Vaako continued, “I did it for the faith. The Lord Marshal had fear, and so he had weakness. He wasn’t fit for Lordship. What he did on Furya he did out of fear. He clung to his life spending the lives of countless Necro to save himself, and profaned our faith. He brought your wrath upon himself. But I...” he hesitated, trying to make up his mind to trust Riddick with what he wanted to say. “I’ve seen too much not to believe- Lord Marshall Zhylaw’s power was real, the Underverse is real, but my faith in our path has been shaken. This was Zhylaw’s path. I am growing weary of this crusade. Life may be anathema to this Verse, but it is tenacious, it is ubiquitous, and I confess I no longer believe that it can be purged. Maybe I’m just tired of killing, but that is the worst crime a Necromonger can be guilty of.”

Riddick knew then why Vaako had hesitated to kill Zhylaw. He wanted Zhylaw dead, but didn’t want the responsibility of filling his boots. He knew why Vaako gave him the option to spare what was left of Helion Prime. He used Riddick as a scapegoat to prevent the Conquest. He was being honest when he told Riddick that he would support him, hoping that Riddick would want to end the march of death across the Uni-Verse, something Vaako wasn’t supposed to want. Loyalty ‘til Underverse come.

“Every religion has… interpretations. You said this path was laid out by Zhylaw. New Lord Marshal might interpret things differently, change the path. Seems like you need a new Purifier. One who sees things your way. Someone who can convince the ranks that it’s time to stop wandering around in the desert and head to the promised land.”

Vaako was stunned, and a little awed, not for the first time. This man knew what was necessary to move his people, and didn’t flinch at revising the faith. “Yes, My Lord. You speak as if you were born to this. The people will remember that Zhylaw tried to take your soul. I saw him straining with the effort, but he couldn’t do it. They will bow to you, and the commanders may yet, as well.”

Riddick just couldn’t help himself, the man was so sincere. “Maybe they would. At least I’d keep the target off your back, Vaako.”

Vaako’s eyebrows drew together in confusion and hurt as the insult struck home. He drew a blade, “I need no one as a shield to hide behind. I could cut you down in a heartbeat...”

Riddick’s short chuckle and raised hands took him off guard, “I see you, Vaako, I do. You should be the Lord Marshal, not me! All my ideas were already yours. But you’d prefer to follow someone who wants the same thing you do. That’s where you’re comfortable. You would watch my back, even die for me. But I question your motives, your loyalty, and you’re willing to kill me. Interesting. I know I insulted you. Don’t hold it against me. Now you know you could do this job without me. You wanna cut me? Make you feel better?”

Vaako scowled, the knife still in his hand, “I want to _gut_ you. That might make me feel better.”

There were very few people in the Verse who could keep up with him, and Riddick knew Vaako was one. When he decided to disarm him, he knew it could be a challenge. He didn’t expect Vaako to simply drop the knife and stare him down when he caught the taller man’s wrist. At the same time, he caught the scent of Vaako’s desire, and growled as the Necro commander leaned into him. Complications.

He put his palm in the center of Vaako’s chest and backed him into a chair, “Sit down.”

Vaako obeyed. Still growling low, he walked around the chair to Vaako’s back. The Necro didn’t flinch, though his heart rate spiked. Riddick wrapped a handful of Vaako’s hair in his fist, tugged his head gently to the side, and leaned down to set his teeth against the big man’s neck. Vaako closed his eyes and groaned a little.

Riddick’s voice was soft and harsh in his ear. “What do you want from me, Vaako?”

“Everything.”

“I can’t give you that. Ordinarily, if someone just wants sex, and I’m agreeable, I offer my hands, my cock, my mouth, my… you get where this is going. But you want more. And I don’t. I’m just passing through. By the end of our visit today you’ll agree to take command of the fleet. Your wife will become the Purifier. They’ll follow her, like you do. I’ll take a ship, Kyra, and Aereon, and leave. Now I’ll ask you again.” He tightened his grip and let his lips brush skin. “What do you want from me, Vaako?”

There was a brief war inside the Necromonger. Visions of Riddick pulsed through his mind. He could imagine the Lord Marshal pinning him to a bed, naked, fucking him slowly, gazing at him with those silver eyes. Or his strong hands as they stroked him to a frenzy before swallowing his bursting cock with that perfect mischievous mouth. But then he would be gone.

Vaako had to force himself to murmur, “Nothing.”

Riddick stood up and released his hair. “All or nothing kinda guy, I can respect that.” He walked around the chair again to face the First Commander, and smirked. “But you’re a tease, Vaako.”

The Furyan’s erection was a thick bulge he gripped briefly through his pants as Vaako gave him a sultry death-glare.

*******************************************

They reached an agreement. Vaako would take command in Riddick’s absence, with the stipulation that he return with Kyra. If he was successful, and Kyra was resurrected, she would be holy to the Necromongers. Not like Zhylaw had been, but she could give them a message from the Underverse, and cement the new path Vaako wanted to take.

Riddick wasn’t sure that he would have to fulfill his end of the bargain. Pledging Kyra’s cooperation didn’t sit right with him. She would have to make that choice, if it came to it. But at that point, she was still dead. It was all contingent on a hypothetical situation, anyway. Fuck it. They’d figure it out. They just had to get there.

As the Lord Marshal, Riddick could commandeer a Necromonger ship easily enough, but those ships didn’t meet the requirements for the journey. They had no cryo facilities, and the ones small enough for Riddick to pilot alone had neither the range to reach their destination nor stasis containment. They needed a ship from one of the “civilized” worlds. At least they were still in the Helion System.

He was thinking through several options when the concubines entered, in advance of the evening meal. They bowed to him from across the room and sat down at the dining table. It wasn’t much of an interruption, but he was distracted from planning. He could smell sweat, and sex. He took another look at them, inhaling deeply, and decided they were more interesting than he’d realized.

It was easy to walk up behind them as they spoke quietly to each other. They were talking about him.

“Do you have something to ask me?” His voice rumbled softly, startling both of them with its proximity.

Reumah, the woman with long hair, recovered first. “My Lord, we apologize- we are curious. We would have spoken to you about it after the meal.”

He took another deep breath, inhaling their intoxicating combined scent, and let the silence linger, a small smile quirking his lips.

Jijie volunteered, “We wondered about your reaction to us, My Lord. You said you don’t own people. And you’ve been considerate of us.”

The silence resumed. The Lord Marshal chose a chair close to them and sat down. “I know there’s a question in there, somewhere, I’m just not hearing it yet. But that’s probably my fault for interrupting your discussion. Maybe you don’t know how to ask me yet.”

They looked at each other before Reumah replied, “My Lord, we want to know if you would ever want sex with us. Lord Marshal Zhylaw was not cruel to us, but he was demanding, and had no concern for our comfort. We met his demands before taking care of our own needs.”

Jijie continued, “We already know you’re different. If we are to stay with you, we would like, that is...” she stuttered and looked at Reumah to regain her confidence before finishing, “We want to know what it’s like to be with you. If you’ll have us.”

His small smile became a grin and a chuckle that gave Jijie goosebumps, “That’s gotta be the most polite proposition I’ve ever heard. I had you all wrong. I thought you were brainwashed or something. But this is your job, and now you kinda like your new boss. I know you _really_ like each other.”

Unlike Jijie, Reumah managed not to blush. “Very much. We have taken care of each other, in every way, for a long time. We are partners.” She and Jijie smiled at each other.

“That’s good. I’m glad. You’ll have each other when I leave.”

“What do you mean, My Lord?”

“I have to go bring my friend back from the Underverse. You two are gonna have to decide if you still want to take me for a ride or not. I’m leaving. If I come back it won’t be for long. And maybe,” he hesitated, “I’ll have my own partner then.”

Aereon entered the room, seeming to float toward the table.

Jijie didn’t need to think about it, the little hesitant wisps of desire that had been drifting off of her became intense and blended with the scent of her sex. “My Lord, I may regret your absence, but I would regret even more if I missed the opportunity to bed you.”

Blood rushed to Riddick’s groin and he growled. He jerked her chair close enough that he could pull her into his lap. He buried his face in her neck, reveling in the scent of her need for him, the feel of her soft skin against his lips. Her hand found his stiff cock and squeezed, and a little noise of appreciation escaped her, music to his ears.

Aereon, startled to walk into that kind of scenario, looked back and forth between Riddick and the small beautiful woman. “What was she just talking about, Riddick? She wants sex?”

Reluctantly, he pulled away from Jijie, still caressing her. “That’s exactly what we were talking about. She doesn’t care that I’m leaving, doesn’t care I might come back with Kyra. Just wants a taste of me. Is that a problem?”

The Elemental considered them thoughtfully. “Why? Is it a problem for you? I don’t know if it’s a problem. There are too many variables, the calculations take time, the potential outcomes are diverse. Human emotions, and Furyan emotions, for that matter, are quite complex.”

A scowl transformed his face and his eyes met Jijie’s. “Damn. We have to stop. We need to talk more later. You, too, Reumah.”

He nuzzled her once more, then gently slid the woman in his lap back onto her chair. He cursed internally when her luscious scent filled with disappointment as he stood and strode away to his bed chamber. He dropped onto the bed and closed his eyes. For the second time that day he found himself holding his erection through his pants.

Aereon was right. Reumah had been sitting, flushed, in her own chair, quietly smelling of arousal and jealousy. Not the kind of jealousy that would go away if he pulled her into his arms. He wouldn’t have been able to ignore it long enough to take Jijie the way his inflamed imagination wanted. Complications.

His own psyche was in conflict, as well, if he was honest with himself. He’d never turned down sex with people he had an attraction to, didn’t hesitate to seduce someone he wanted, and never had a problem walking away from them. But the introduction of the idea of a mate… The presence of that concept in his mind and his desire for it was starting to erode his tendencies. Maybe it gave him a problem with walking away. Maybe he had a problem with giving someone a taste, without attachment. Maybe he wanted more.

For the hundredth time that day, he thought of Kyra. He knew that even balls deep in Jijie, or Vaako, he would have thought of Kyra. Anyone he was with, he would just be passing the time until he could see her again. The thought left him cold, purged of lust.

Who would she be if she was revived? As she died in his arms, the scent of her blood mingled with something like longing. He wanted to know what she had been thinking, looking up at him feeling that way. What was she longing for?

The knock on his door was a welcome interruption of uncomfortable thoughts. It was Aereon, who still hadn’t heard the results of his meeting with Vaako. She sat in a chair near the bed and listened while he explained the agreement and started to describe one of his plans for stealing a ship. She cut him off before he could finish.

“That is a workable option. However, it would be far easier to use my influence to procure a vessel. There are benefits to my status as an Envoy, not the least of which is the credit extended to me by any government in the Helion System. If you get me to a capital city, I can get us a ship.”

Riddick nodded slowly. He’d been unaware she had that sort of power. “We’ll leave tomorrow. Vaako wants me to address an assembly before we leave, but I don’t know if that’s the best idea.”

She reached into the aether, tracing the path and the possibilities. “You should speak to them again. Tell them your plans. Tell them about Kyra and the light of the Uni-Verse. Speak of Zhylaw’s corrupted path, Vaako’s faith, the rightness of his leadership, the wrongness of yours. Tell them you must make this journey to find your faith, that you will come back when you’ve found it.”

“That’ll make them happy?”

“They will be content. They will be persuaded to stop ravaging worlds, and sail toward a rift in the Uni-Verse they know as the Threshold.”

“I thought the Threshold was death.”

“Death is one threshold to reach the Underverse, the one a soul crosses. The other is to enter the rift, alive, physically crossing over into the parallel ‘verse. The Lord Marshal will be expected to do that, and return. It is what Zhylaw did. It is what Vaako will try to do.”

“Try?”

Aereon sighed, “It is difficult to see that far ahead.”

“Bullshit.”

She looked around them at the walls and then, pointedly, at Riddick.

Of course.

*******************************************

The frigate sat, an ominous bulky shape, in the Grand Plaza of the capital city of Helion Five. They had been given permission to land after Aereon assured the members of Parliament that the Necromongers did not intend to attempt to conquer the planet with one ship. They were hard to convince. Necros were not known for visiting worlds with peaceful intentions.

Vaako insisted on commanding the ship. After Riddick’s address, which received thunderous cheers from the assembled Necros, he found that Vaako’s hard gaze had softened whenever their eyes met. He got the feeling that Vaako wanted to stay close to him as long as possible.

When he said goodbye to the concubines it was after a delicate conversation about that ride he’d offered. He had to reveal that his senses were extremely acute and had allowed him to detect Reumah’s jealousy. They had already worked that issue out for themselves, though, when Reumah told Jijie her unexpected feelings. He also confessed that he was distracted by thoughts of the dead woman who might be his mate, which, he was learning from Aereon, had a special set of connotations to Furyans. They wished him well on his journey.

Riddick was concerned about what they would do when he left. Vaako had offered to take them into his quarters, though he had no intention of using them for sex, but both women were equally opposed to living in Dame Vaako’s home. She would make their lives a waking nightmare. They finally decided to join the servant caste, and would be assigned quarters among them. They would be able to stay together, and the work would not be objectionable.

They both had insisted on kissing his cheeks. As he departed Necropolis on board the frigate, he was left with a strange feeling of satisfaction, like he’d read the end of a good book. Aereon quickly reminded him that there was another chapter waiting.

“The members of Parliament we meet with will agree to give us a ship and supplies, or credit to purchase our own. I’ll see to that. I’ll leave it up to you to choose the ship.”

After the meeting, he explored the available options, and found, in a government catalog, an old deep exploration vessel that had everything they needed. A few hours later, it had been fully stocked with food and medical supplies, weapons, emergency equipment, the operating system was updated, and Riddick was running pre-flight checks as Aereon boarded.

“Everything looks good. Let’s go get Kyra.”

The Grand Plaza was not built as a landing site for spacecraft. On most other days, it was a marketplace. It was usually a bustling hub of activity packed with people, goods, food, and music, with a fountain in the center and a stage on the north side. Before the frigate landed, the crowd had already been cleared by the gendarmes. The market stalls migrated to the streets that surrounded the plaza like the spokes of a wheel. The people on those streets watched through wind-whipped dust as another ship landed near the first. Those who were interested enough to continue watching saw the man with goggles emerge and approach the Necro ship. One observer, squinting through bleary eyes, recognized this man and cursed fiercely, hand reflexively moving to his sidearm.

Prison Planet Corp. had done as little as possible for Toombs. Their representatives, a brand of mercs themselves, arrived at the guard station soon after the shootout and reasserted control over the prison with brutal efficiency. He could hear shots being fired as prisoners were disciplined. Two men burst into the hellhound kennel and ruthlessly executed the animals, putting an armor-piercing round through each skull, before pausing at his battered cage.

“Thank fucking God. Thought I was a dead man. The stink would’ve killed me if the dogs didn’t. Get me out of here.”

They ran his ID, found his point of origin, and shipped him out without even a meal. Not in the budget. They didn’t seem to care about, or even acknowledge, the Necromonger threat in the Helion System. They were taking him back there. When he threw a fit about “Them” and demanded to speak to a corporate officer the pilot exchanged a look with the co-pilot and snapped Toombs’ cryo cuff down. They were supposed to take him to Helion Prime, but this guy was a pain in the ass. The pilot set a course for Helion Five. It was a lot closer.

Toombs couldn’t tell what planet he was on when they kicked him down the ramp. By the time he figured it out, they were long gone. His credit was almost nil, he had no clan and no ship, and the death army was probably on its way any day now. It was time to get shit-faced drunk.

He planned to stay as drunk as possible for as long as possible- until the Necromongers got there or his credit ran out, whichever came first. The lone Necro ship that landed earlier strengthened his resolve, and he had lifted his bottle with a knowing air.

“Yep. Shit’s about to hit the fan, folks. Duck and cover.”

No one contradicted him, but, then, no one was really paying attention to the drunken foreign merc who muscled through the crowd on his way back to the liquor store for another round. He had missed Riddick’s departure from the frigate, accompanied by Aereon, but was there for his return. He watched in disbelief as the bald bastard he’d been chasing for more than five years walked casually down the ramp of an old Magellan. As if he hadn’t just locked Toombs in a cage and escaped from Crematoria. As if he hadn’t stolen Toombs’ ship. As if he had no fear of the Necromongers he was walking toward. His soggy mind raced. _What the fuck is going on? How do I get the drop on him?_

******************************************

Riddick stopped at the top of the ramp on the frigate, Kyra in his arms. Vaako was there, watching him walk away.

“Aereon saw something about the future, Vaako. The Underverse. She said you would cross the Threshold and try to return. Try. She wouldn’t say more, thought somebody might be listening. You deserve to know. It doesn’t feel right. Maybe sabotage. Keep an eye on your associates.”

Vaako nodded slowly. He didn’t know what to think of this man anymore. This Furyan. He defied understanding. “When you return, perhaps her vision will be clearer.”

“Maybe. See you around, Lord Marshal.”

“I look forward to it. I hope you find what you seek.”

Riddick looked down at Kyra’s face, then nodded at Vaako. He walked down the ramp and headed for his ship. What he found on board was just tiring. Toombs. He sniffed the air. Drunk. Holding Aereon at gunpoint. He sighed.

Toombs was almost beaming, gloating. “Well, look what the hellhounds dragged in, I do believe it’s Richard B. Riddick. And that? Isn’t that the hellcat from Crematoria? I don’t know who the fuck I’ve got my gun pointed at but she keeps going half-invisible and shit. Least her head’s solid, even if I can’t always see it.” He pressed the barrel of his gun against Aereon’s temple with a menacing grimace.

“I am an Envoy from the Elemental race, you drunken imbecile, I’ve told you already. I’m an ambassador. On my word the government of Helion Five will imprison you indefinitely.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said dismissively. “So, Riddick, you look mighty friendly with the death army. They just let you walk away? Hmm?”

“Well, I killed their king. They wanted me to take his place, but I’ve got better things to do.”

Toombs cracked up laughing. “That’s great, funny-man. You don’t wanna tell me, I don’t really care. So where are we off to now? Maybe Butcher Bay this time, huh? Nice and easy. You out that place, just means I get to drag your ass in again. Y’know, maybe we should partner up! I’d give you a cut of the bounty, every time you escape. Pick you up, set you down somewhere for a vacation, run out of credits, bam! Haul you in to another slam. Damn, why didn’t I think of that sooner?”

Riddick grunted. He turned away from Toombs and Aereon to carry Kyra toward the ship’s galley. Magellans were big boats, by his standards. Beyond the galley were six bunks in separate rooms, crew quarters. There were two heads, each with a shower, sink, and toilet. There was another small room with a viewing port, a couch and a vidscreen.

In the galley there were two stasis compartments, drawers, used for fresh food storage. One was full of food. The other… He slid the drawer out and gently laid Kyra down on her side, knees tucked to her chest. Toombs stuck his head through the doorway to watch.

“What in the holy fuck are you doing with her?”

“Putting her back in stasis. It’s gonna be a while before I can bring her back from the dead.” Riddick looked up at him from where he squatted.

Toombs figured it was another typical mindfuck ploy to put him off balance, so he didn’t flinch, and held the gun steady on Riddick. “Uh-huh. Sure. So I’m thinking you owe me a ship. And this is a real nice one you got me. What...”

He was interrupted by a powerful blow to the back of his head. Aereon stood behind him, holding a wrench, as he crumpled to the deck.

“This man is intolerable.”

“Well, pretty tolerable now. Except for the smell.” Riddick shook his head.

“You have a history with him. What would you do with him?”

“Tricky. Hand him over, lock him up here, the Helion mercs will get wind of me. And then word would get around farther.” He drew a blade from his thigh. “I’ll do this in the shower. Easy clean-up.”

“Could he be useful?”

“Can’t see how. Insect repellant?”

She stared down at Toombs, ignoring the sarcasm, concentrating. “I’m not sure yet. He could be an asset.”

“Doubtful. Look, you don’t think I should kill him? Fine. I’ll lock him in a cryo coffin and think about letting him out later. He’s a merc. All he cares about is coin. He’d sell his grandmother if his cut was big enough. You heard him, he’ll just keep coming after me. I’m his biggest payday.”

“Your assessment may be accurate, but of all the possible futures I can envision, it seems the best results come from keeping him alive at this point.”

Riddick was skeptical. “Right. I guess I can always space him later if anything changes.”

After Toombs was stowed snugly in a cryo chamber, locked in from the outside, Riddick took his place in the pilot’s seat again. The frigate was already gone, and Riddick momentarily wondered what was happening on Necropolis. It only took a few minutes to get the ship ready to break atmo, and they were in the air again, leaving the planet’s blue sky behind for the black of space.

**********************************************

They spent most of the voyage in cryo, with several wake cycles so that Riddick could make course corrections and check the ship’s systems. Aereon had elected to wake on the same schedule as Riddick. It gave her a chance to put her feelers out into the Uni-Verse, to listen for any new notes in the symphony of information that flowed through it.

Riddick had spent a lot of time in cryo, but that didn’t mean he would ever stop loathing it. It wasn’t optimized for Furyan biochemistry. His body was immobilized, but not his mind. His brain stayed active, which might have driven a weaker mind insane. As it was, long periods in cryo made him… grumpy. Aereon felt a distinct sense of gratitude that she responded the way humans did to the drugs. She couldn’t imagine what her reaction would be if she didn’t, and preferred not to contemplate it. Where Aereon had experienced most of the trip as a period of sleep, Riddick had experienced every waking moment of every day locked motionless in a chamber the size of a coffin. His only respite from consciousness came during natural sleep cycles, which were less regular while his body was inactive.

One week before they were to arrive at M-344/G the computer began withholding the cryo drugs for the final time and they woke. Riddick went to the galley immediately and checked on Kyra. Stasis containment was still functioning perfectly. He gently closed her drawer and slid the other one open to select a piece of fruit, pausing when he was struck by the incongruity of the drawers’ contents. His mouth was dry. He gulped some water and bit into the fruit as he made his way to the bridge. The renewed image of Kyra’s face seemed burned into the backs of his eyelids, flashing to life every time he blinked.

Aereon was coming out of her quarters, where her cryo coffin was located. On this ship they were upright chambers, like closets, one in each cabin. She nodded to him, and also visited the galley for water before joining him on the bridge. Riddick sat in the pilot’s chair examining their course while the ship’s computer checked all systems.

“What is our status?”

He looked up briefly. “We’re peachy.”

“And you? How are you?”

He looked up again, this time looking into her eyes. “I’m fine.”

She knew him well enough to leave him be, and made her way back through the ship to the lounge. She spent a long time staring into space through the viewing port while she listened to the music of the Verse and waited for him to be ready to talk.

They woke from cryo with enough time to reconnect with their bodies, to reconnect with the Verse, and to anticipate any changes they needed to make in their path. Because not all of the planets in M344/G were on the ship’s chart, including Thra, Riddick had to do some creative guesswork based on studying the Necro map. Once they got into the system, he would have to fly manually, because the ship’s computer wouldn’t be reliable. It didn’t have all the gravitational variables. Riddick would fly into orbit around Thra, and when they found where they needed to land he would take them down. He’d had months to think about it. Too long to think without action. Still too many unknowns to have a plan. Just a collection of “if...then” postulates.

Aereon eventually returned to the galley for food, and found him there, sitting on the floor, looking at Kyra. When she came in, he closed the drawer quickly and stood up.

“I know its stupid. I keep interrupting stasis. I have to stop.”

“Perhaps, but that’s not what I was thinking,” she said kindly. “I was thinking about Aughra.”

He turned back to the meal he’d started preparing and nodded for her to continue.

“The Elemental we seek is extraordinary. She is the embodiment of Thra. She was created by the planet to be its eyes and ears. She is eternal. She has had more contact with the urSkeks than any being outside their own race, and may know how we can reach them on Hades. Soon, Riddick, you will have answers soon.”

“I wish I could say that was some kind of comfort, but it’s been a while for me.”

“I can only attempt to imagine.”

When the food was ready, he put some in front of her and sat down with his own plate. Aereon took a moment to appreciate the scents of the meal, and wonder how this convict could cook. He sensed her well-hidden amazement.

“My education actually began well before my introduction to the penal system.”

Aereon was briefly ashamed, again, for initially reducing this man in her mind to little more than a crafty thug with Furyan ancestry. She was reminded of it regularly, and still hadn’t forgiven herself.

“Of course. Your life is a mystery to me. All I know of you is what I’ve seen myself. And what you told Imam.”

“Imam caught me in a candid moment. The only stories I usually tell are ones that would put fear into mercs, other convicts, anyone, really. Learning to cook in an orphanage doesn’t qualify.”

Riddick contemplated his travel companion. She was as much a mystery to him as he was to her. Even more so, really. He had no idea where she came from or what her life had been like before they met. He didn’t even really know why she was going with him, and he’d had plenty of time to wonder. Damned if he was going to ask her, though, about any of it.

She tilted her head slightly. “No, that’s not very fear-inspiring. Rather endearing, actually. Thank you for the meal.”

They ate in silence. Maybe he would ask about her homeworld sometime.

********************************************

It was surreal. How could such a thing exist? They both sat on the bridge staring at it through the window. They had landed on a wide grassy plain that was bathed in the light of three suns. Tiny sparkling rivulets of clear water ran through the grass down to a river behind them. Over them towered a huge castle that seemed to be made of light. It was flawlessly reflective, faceted like a cut diamond, standing starkly against the green hills in its cold, crystaline purity. Even though she had been prepared by Aughra’s memories of the place, Aereon was astonished.

“The Castle of the Crystal was built by the urSkeks. It was their home while they were on Thra. Then the Skeksis lived here for a thousand years. Now, it belongs to Aughra, and her Gelfling friends. They keep watch over the crystal, and live in its light. I knew what to expect, but I didn’t understand… how it would make me feel to see it in person.”

Riddick’s face was drawn in a scowl. Inside he felt a strange swirling sensation as sorrow mixed with apprehension, anticipation, and joy. This place... he could gaze at it in awe and wonder, delight in its form, yet had the urge to raze it and bury the rubble.

“This place… is beautiful, and terrible.”

Aereon’s eyes shot to him. He was feeling it, too, this spirit-warrior. She wondered how far his sensitivities extended. “Well said.”

“How can anyone live here? It makes me want to crawl out of my skin.”

Before she could answer, a flicker of movement drew her eyes to the window again. A stream of figures was emerging from the castle, quickly moving to surround their ship, each of them holding a bow, sling, or knife. Riddick’s trained eye appreciated the craftsmanship of their handmade weapons, and didn’t doubt their skill in handling them. The people were small and slender, pointed ears stood out from their hair, and their placid expressions belied the fierceness he knew they contained.

Behind them, a slower figure was moving toward the ship. As it approached, Riddick could see it was humanoid, definitely female, with horns like a ram, long wavy hair, and one piercing eye that was looking directly into his soul through the plasteel window of the ship. He looked back into that eye, and saw the creation of worlds before time, saw the molten heart of Thra as it formed, and the first life that swam in its oceans. He saw her body, formed of earth and sea water, imbued with life, erupt from Thra and sprawl, naked, on her mother as she gained consciousness.

“It’s her, Riddick.”

Pulled from his trance by her words, he took a deep, shaky breath. “I know.”

“But who are all these Gelflings? Where did they come from?”

He stood. “Let’s go find out.”

The Gelflings stood passively, but alert, as he and Aereon descended the ramp with their hands raised. Aughra shouldered through the battle line to greet them.

“Here they are! Yes, knew they were coming. Coming to speak with Aughra. Welcome to you, Air Sister, and Spirit Brother, welcome!”

The little woman held her arms out to Aereon, who kneeled to accomodate the embrace. They melted together for a long moment, Aereon’s form constantly shifting through the spectrum of visibility. Riddick could smell damp earth in the breeze, the scent of pure water, flowers, and rotting things. This world was fecund and ripe. Seeds haloed by downy fluff floated by, and birds coasted and flapped overhead.

When Aughra turned her attention to Riddick, he was grateful that her physical greeting was more reserved. She grasped his hand in both of hers, and pressed it to her lips. He surprised himself by returning the gesture, incorporating a low bow.

She spoke to him when their eyes were at the same level, “You have come so far, and still have far to go. Now, then.” Abruptly she turned away and headed for the castle. The Gelflings took their cue from her and followed.

Aereon was the first to regain her voice as they moved toward the massive crystal palace. “But where did all of you Gelflings come from? Hello, everyone!”

Several responded verbally, most just waved and smiled at her, then looked to one of the males as if waiting for him to answer her question.

He strode up to her and matched pace with her while he answered, “I’m Jen, it’s good to finally meet you, Aereon. Aughra has told you some of our story, you know we thought Kira and I were the only Gelflings left on Thra. After the urSkeks departed, we were alone here for a long time. Ten trine. One day, a group of Gelflings appeared at the castle and we discovered that there were other survivors. Refugees from the Garthim War had joined together, Gelflings of all clans, and traveled farther than our kind ever had. Thra is a vast world, and they found a safe place the Skeksis had never been to, a place too far from the castle for their spies to travel. They lived in a new land, and kept the old ways. Until the Great Conjunction. One of their seers had a dream about the crystal, and the urSkeks. They knew it was safe to return, and some chose to do that. They found us at the castle- Aughra, me and Kira, and our first child. We weren’t alone anymore.”

Aereon smiled broadly and took one of his hands in hers, “What a wonderful surprise that must have been!”

He squeezed her hand and looked seriously into her eyes. “Inexpressibly wonderful. For us, yes, definitely, and even more so for our daughter.”

Riddick felt a chill go through him, a sense that something was waiting for him just over the horizon, invisible but palpable. He tried to flow with the sensation, to see farther, but felt the edge of the future as resistance and knew he would just have to wait, although he was willing to guess what was coming.

“Jen, this is Riddick. We’ve traveled a long way to visit you, as well as Aughra. You and Kira experienced something that seems to have resonated through the Uni-Verse and manifested again in the lives of Riddick and a woman who is very special to him. They belong to a race of people who experienced genocide. Together they fulfilled a prophecy. She died to save him, and her act also saved worlds. Her name was Kyra.”

Jen gasped and looked to Riddick. They were inside the castle, now, making their way through corridors towards the chamber where the crystal hung above a shaft of air and fire. The big man wearing goggles looked down at him and nodded in confirmation of Aereon’s words.

“How extraordinary. But your Kyra, she… couldn’t be revived?” He hesitated to ask, knowing what a sensitive question it was.

“No, not yet. But we think it might be possible. That’s what we need to talk to Aughra about.”

The Gelfling nodded, “I hope she has good news for you, my friend.”

The corridor opened into a vast chamber full of light. Riddick reflexively, unnecessarily, reseated his goggles. They were standing in front of the Crystal of Truth. It was more massive than he had imagined, and more radiant, and more moving. The apprehension he felt earlier, outside the castle, was entirely replaced by a swelling of love, and peace settled down into him the way water sinks into soil. He felt as fertile as the planet, and found his pants had gotten a little tighter as he filled with the energy of the light.

Standing next to the hole in the floor under the crystal was another small, slender Gelfling, slightly shorter than Jen, who embraced her. She wore a circlet over her forehead that held a small crystal. The Gelflings had made her their priestess-queen.

Jen turned back to the visitors. “This is Kira, our guide, my mate.”

Aereon and Riddick both bowed, nearly in unison, sincerely honored to meet this woman who seemed to radiate light and love, herself.

“Welcome, travelers, be at peace. And please don’t bow anymore, really. I’m very pleased to meet you, too. Are you hungry? We’re going to have a meal soon, but if you want we can go to the kitchen now. I’ve been looking for an excuse to raid the pantry today.”

Jen laughed and placed his hand over her belly. “You already have an excuse, mother.”

Kira grinned and shrugged. “True.”

Aereon and Riddick thanked her but declined the offer of food. They were both too anxious to hear what Aughra had to tell them. While they waited for her, unsure where she had disappeared to, Aereon repeated Riddick’s story for Kira and the other Gelflings. They were awed, and saddened, but hopeful. The whole time, Riddick’s eyes, behind his goggles, were locked on Kira. He couldn’t speak. This woman had been dead. Her beautiful delicate face had once been slack and lifeless. But here she stood, glowing with life- her own, and the new life inside her. He blinked and saw Kyra lying limp in her drawer. Finally Aughra appeared, holding a strangely shaped box and a scroll.

She placed them on the floor, and unrolled the scroll. “This is what I have seen in the light of the crystal. I saw why you were coming, know what you mean to ask, and put down here the answer I received.” She gestured to the drawings and writing on the paper.

The writing was a mystery to them both, but Riddick froze when he saw what she had drawn. A distinctive hammerhead creature, a cluster of pillars, a chamber that held a crystal.

He looked at Aereon and said, melodiously, “I don’t like this.”

Aereon urged Aughra, “Please, go on.”

“You,” she said to Riddick, “know our sister planet of monsters, you were there. Long ago, in their arrogance, the fallen urSkeks cracked the crystal on that world as they did here. They tried to break apart their own nature, to banish the darkness from their souls so they could return to their home. But they did not succeed there anymore than they did here. There, the urSkeks were unchanged. There, the native creatures were sundered, split into light-dwellers and dark-dwellers. Those who could only live in the dark went underground. Those who could only live in the light, well… The monsters have no other half, now. They’ve destroyed their half-selves, and have a half-life, eating each other in the darkness underground. You must go to the Crystal Chamber, bring your Kyra, and heal the crystal. When the three suns meet, and their light finds the crystal, it will call the urSkeks and remind them of the damage they did. They will come, to merge with the light, and see the connections between all things. They can restore Kyra’s life. Maybe the life of the planet, too. Don’t know about that, but it could be.”

“Where on the planet is the crystal?” Riddick was looking at the drawings with mounting tension.

“You will see this shape, a tiny mountain, pillars of earth.” She pointed. “There you will enter, and follow the tunnel to the east until you reach the chamber.”

“How far? How far will we have to walk from the entrance to the crystal?”

She shook her head. “Don’t know. Can’t see.”

“Fuck,” he cursed quietly.

Aughra removed the lid from the box and poured its contents on the floor. “These were all scavenged from the ruins of my home. You’ll find your shard in here, Furyan. Don’t ask Aughra which one it is, don’t know that either.”

He looked from the small pile of crystals to the little woman’s face, incredulous. “How am I supposed to pick the right one? This is impossible. Aereon?”

The Elementals exchanged glances. Aereon said simply, “Feel it, Riddick.”

Jen walked over and they studied the shards together. “When I had to choose, I remembered the songs of my Mystic family. I played a chord on my flute that resonated with the crystal and showed me its light.”

“Resonance, huh? Too bad I don’t know the crystal’s music.”

He squatted, then sat on the floor in front of the little pile. Slowly, he began to handle each one, trying to sense something, anything. Nothing. They were all cool and lifeless in his hands. He arranged them in a row and stared at them. They were all just smooth, shiny rocks. He tried holding his hands over them, hoping for a discernible emanation. Nothing. Time passed. The suns sank. The hall grew dimmer. Most of the Gelflings left the great room, murmuring farewells and other good wishes, headed for the dining hall. Eventually he shook his head and closed his eyes. He pushed his goggles up to rub his eyes, and slumped forward, face cradled in his hands. He thought of Kyra, the last time he saw her alive, barely, the tear at the corner of her eye sparkling like a crystal. Which one? Which one?

In his mind he could see the shards spread out in front of him, all the different shapes and sizes. Cautiously, when the idea struck him suddenly, he peeked through squinted eyes at the possibilities. To his naked gaze, the crystals were strikingly different- different than they looked through the goggles, but also different from each other. One of them glowed more than the others, and shimmered a bit, like a tear quivering. He picked it up and turned it over, amazed at how easy it was to choose now.

“Its gotta be this one. It’s lit up like a sun.”

“It doesn’t look any different to me,” said Jen, still present along with Kira, Aughra, and Aereon.

“Not to your eyes,” Riddick replied, “Mine are a little different.” He turned his face to show his liquid silver eyes, to the astonishment of the Gelflings.

Aereon squeezed Aughra’s hand and gave her a smile. “Half the battle.”

Riddick looked up at that and growled, “This has _not_ been half the battle. The battle hasn’t even begun. You’ve never seen what’s waiting for us on Hades- take a look at Aughra’s drawing. It’s a good likeness of an adult raptor. A killing machine. I have to take Kyra through a gauntlet of unknown length probably full of those fuckers to reach the crystal. And before that, we have to search the whole God damned planet to find a hill and these dirt pillars. And the conjunction is coming fast.”

“You’ve already taken too long, Furyan. There is no time. Come, eat- but then you must go.” Aughra beckoned him toward the dining hall.

He followed, his expression a storm. As he passed Aereon she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and fell in step with him, casually, as if she did it every day. Startled out of his stern contemplation, he gave her a hard stare until she returned his look with a small encouraging smile and squeezed his arm. Riddick grunted and looked away, uncomfortable with feeling comforted by her, still clutching the crystal that might fix the hole in his heart.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Journey to the Pitch Black Crystal.  
> I've read a lot of Shenandoah76209's work (and love River/Riddick). My portrayal of Riddick is influenced by ideas in their stories. There's a part of this chapter that seemed familiar when I wrote it- how Riddick felt when he left Thra- and if the notion came from somewhere else, it was probably one of their stories! But their body of work is so huge, I didn't know where to start looking to see if my brain stole the idea. End of disclaimer.

As they orbited Hades, staring at the enhanced image of the planet’s surface, Riddick sighed. They’d been orbiting for two days, and had begun slowly adjusting their path to survey the whole globe.

“Fucking haystack.” A phrase he’d taken to repeating ritually every time they completed an orbit.

Aereon looked at Aughra’s drawing, and the one she had added herself- a view from above which she had extrapolated from the side view. Before beginning the search they had scanned the drawing into the computer, counting on the imaging software to find a match if their eyes failed to. They could approach the site from any direction, they might not recognize it from their perspective if they weren’t able to hold the image in their minds and rotate it through three-hundred-sixty degrees. Riddick was right. The planet was the worst kind of haystack. One with no hay. Just millions of square kilometers of sand, rock, and the bleached bones of creatures killed by monsters. As he punched numbers into the computer, moving the ship into a new orbital path, he glanced over at her. She was staring down at the planet now, looking with her eyes, but also listening to the Verse- straining to catch a helpful note.

“Tell me about your homeworld, Aereon. Is it anything like this?”

Her attention faltered and she blinked at him in surprise, but recovered quickly. “No, nothing like this. My home is a watery world of crashing seas and storms. When we walk outdoors, my people are effortlessly invisible, and nearly invincible for it. Still, we abandoned the land thousands of years ago, and built cities in the sky. The air carries information from our planet and beyond. The upper atmosphere kisses the void and swirls down to us- the data of a thousand worlds carried by solar winds. We receive it, and calculate. We try to determine where we are needed, where the balance is disturbed.”

“All of you?”

“We all do it, involuntarily, the way your heart beats unbidden in your chest. There are other envoys who do the work I do, but we are few. Most of us have other primary occupations, all the activities of living. But always, we all function as ears of the Uni-Verse, listening to its needs, and collectively send Envoys to fulfill them. It’s our purpose in the Verse.”

Riddick nodded silently as he absorbed this, once again staring down at the inhospitable world spinning under them. Eventually he spoke again, slowly and quietly. As close to hesitant as Aereon could imagine this man to be. “I wonder. What it must be like. To know your place in the Verse, to know your purpose and fulfill it.”

Her expression matched his- serious, and a bit sad. “There are those who are fortunate enough to be engaged knowingly in the fulfillment of duty, to have a place in the Verse that is stable, consistent, and predictable. Others, most others, are not so fortunate. Their lives are a series of events and encounters that seem random, a multiplicity of obligations that unfold over time. Occasionally, briefly, a purpose becomes clear, and fades again after it transpires. This is the way of things.”

“Maybe so. That doesn’t make it easier.”

She inclined her head in acknowledgement. Their attention returned to the survey for another orbit.

“Tell me what you saw about Toombs.”

“It was unclear, but I had the sense that he would help us reach our goal. Now, I can see- the gauntlet, the monsters, time running short...”

He nodded again. “I don’t like it, but I think you’re right. I think I even know how to incentivize the bastard. If we ever find this fucking pile of dirt!” His fist struck the console, and Aereon realized how thin his tightly controlled veneer of calm was. She didn’t know it, but it had been harder for him to handle every irritant since they left Thra.

Just breathing ship’s air after being on Thra was a new kind of prison sentence. The moist fertile world had sunk its teeth in, and leaving it felt like another piece of him was torn out. That planet was alive in a way he’d never experienced before. Before that, all he knew was metal and plasteel, rock, sweat, dust, heat, ice, blood, death. Aughra’s world, though it hid plenty of dangers, was a haven, replete with life. Vivid. He had seen life underfoot and in the air, smelled it, crushed it between his teeth and felt it run down his throat. He heard it calling to him to break away and live rough among the trees, to cover his mate with his body and quicken new life in her. He was made dizzy by the impulse, then nauseous. Then empty, like the shell of Kyra that waited on the ship whose air became stale as they neared the dead planet. It was still calling him. He remembered the green grass and growled a little at the sand slipping by below.

@@@@@@@@@@

Toombs opened his eyes to Riddick’s goggled face inches from his.

“Good morning, sunshine. How’s your head?”

Toombs’ head was a drum pounded by overly enthusiastic percussion prodigies. At least three: maybe one on each side, and a big guy in the back. His mouth was dry. His tongue was too big, and too furry. And the light was stabbing his brain. He closed his eyes again and allowed himself to slump, supported in the cryo chamber by straps around his chest and waist. He put his hands to his head- bound at the wrists. Damn.

“Where’s my whiskey?”

“Incinerator.”

“Bastard.”

“Merc.”

Short pause.

“Can I borrow your goggles?”

“No.”

Another pause. Longer. Pensive.

“What the fuck do you want, Riddick?”

“I need muscle.”

Toombs opened a cautious eye. “No offense, not my type.”

Riddick sneered. “I’d be willing to bet that I’m _just_ your type. Not what I’m asking. We’re in system M-344/G. Heard of it?”

“Well, yeah, fuck. Planet M6-117 is in that system, right? That’s where you were before you got on the Kublai Khan. I’ve had an eye out for you since then. I was on that ship when your little girl killed the Chillingsworth bitch.”

Suddenly it all clicked.

“Wait, that was her! The hellcat! Damn, man, she got fine. Oh, and dead.”

Riddick clenched his jaw and waited for the anger to subside enough to speak. “Yes. She was killed by the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers after she attacked him to save my life.”

“Ooo, ouch.”

“Shut up and listen. Abridged version of the story: she doesn’t have to stay dead. That’s why we’re here, on M6-117. There’s a huge crystal on this planet that can call some supernatural-ass people who can bring her back to life.”

Toombs was growing visibly upset. “You’re shitting me. I don’t get it, _Dick_. Why go through the trouble to fuck with me? Just ghost me, already!”

Aereon intervened before Riddick could really lose his temper. “I know how fantastic it must sound, Mr. Toombs. But Riddick is not fucking with you. I assure you, the people we seek are capable of resurrecting Kyra. They’ve done it before, on another world, for similar reasons. This is truly our reason for being here, and why we’ve woken you up. We need your assistance.”

“Muscle,” Riddick ground out. “We need you to fight monsters. We’re all going to have to fight them to get to the crystal. It’s underground, probably surrounded by the fuckers. I’ve dealt with them before. Light hurts them, burns them. But they’re still deadly.”

“And why, exactly, am I going to fight deadly underground monsters for you?”

“You’re not going to do it for me. You’re going to do it for the money.”

“What money?”

“The money you’ll get for turning me in. Your idea- I’m thinking it’s not that bad. If you help get us through this- all of us, alive- I’ll let you turn me in. I break out, we split two ways.”

Toombs narrowed his eyes. “Hmph. 70/30.”

“How is that fair? 50/50. My bounty being what it is, you’ll be set for life.” His tone hid amusement, knowing he’d have to at least appear to haggle.

“Hardly. Anyway, you need my help, right? Sweeten the fucking pot, Riddick.”

“Fucking merc. Fine.”

Riddick unlocked his cuffs and stepped back.

“Just like that? You’re not worried I’m gonna get a little revengey?”

“Not while my intact life is worth so much. And Kyra? Her breathing body has got to be worth something to you, too. She escaped Crematoria. Wonder what her bounty is. And this planet? Dangerous. But the crystals underground are unique. Wonder what they’d be worth?” He slipped the shard out of a pocket and held it up between them.

Toombs’ eyes locked onto it. “What, you think all I care about is money? What about my life?”

“You already gambled that when you boarded this ship. The only reason I didn’t bleed you out in my shower was that Aereon thought you might be useful. So, my advice: be useful. And I’ll try to be a man of my word.” He walked away, following Aereon toward the galley, Toombs trailing behind.

“Oh, so I can trust you?”

“Don’t kid yourself, merc. Every moment you spend with me, your life is in my hands. Notice, your heart is still beating.”

Toombs thought back to UV6, Riddick’s blade at his balls. He recalled the sled ride on Crematoria which ended one merc short. Then, there was a seriously dead guard in the prison, bloody teacup found nearby, the other guards strangely spooked and silent about the matter. Aereon peered at him over the rim of a steaming mug.

“Would you care for some tea, Mr. Toombs?”

@@@@@@@@@@

After he ate, they took Toombs to the bridge and explained to him what they were facing. He stared out at the planet they sat on, the huge pillars of dirt that Riddick explained were hollow, the dry sandy solarized dirt all around them. He looked again at Aughra’s drawing of the raptor, and the crystal shard sitting on the page.

“This…this is not a comforting orientation you’re giving me here. I need a smoke. Where’s the GPR map?”

Riddick showed him the screen, and rotated the image on one axis, then another. “This is where we are. This domed room just under the surface is the crystal chamber.”

The subsurface map showed the uneven outline of the twisting tunnel they would use, and the chamber where it terminated. There, below the chamber, was a whole network of rooms that made up an underground structure.

“We think this is a palace, similar to the one we saw on Thra, built by the UrSkeks and buried over time by the planet. The good news is, the tunnel doesn’t branch. Navigation won’t be a problem.”

“And the bad news?”

“Well, bioraptors. And with all of the turns and changes in elevation, we’re looking at a 7K walk. Mostly walk. Some parts of the tunnel are so constricted… we’ll have to squeeze through.”

“Squeeze?”

“Crawl.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“Pass. I’m gonna have to take a pass on this one. I’ll just be here, guarding the ship. You can lock out the pilot controls, yeah? I’ll sit tight, keep it warm for you.” His pale face belied his upbeat banter.

Riddick glared at him. “Claustrophobic?”

“Little bit.”

“80/20.”

“Right, just keep pushing the same damn button,” he muttered, looking pained. Finally he blurted out, “Ok! Ok. It’ll be fine.”

“I calculate the conjunction will occur in less than five hours,” Aereon announced. “We must... get our shit together.”

Aereon and Toombs stripped the ship of handheld lighting and headlamps, flares, and detachable wall-mounted torches. They each chose weapons and back-up weapons, and found ways to secure them. Medical supplies, water, food, and batteries had already been packed. Riddick had to commit to how Kyra would be transported. The animal side screamed that he needed to hold her, but also be able to fight. He had to do both. Toombs actually tried to be helpful.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we can switch off. Fireman’s carry. I’ll watch your back when you have her, and vice versa.”

He’d already rejected that idea days before when it came to mind. He had a plan, and as time grew short he had to test it. “No, that’s not going to work for me. I need to try something else. Aereon, make sure that rope is stashed.” He visited the cargo area and retrieved several lengths of wide hook and loop fastener straps which he carried to the galley. Finally, it was time.

Her face was the same. Slack, empty. Don’t look anymore. Don’t think. He pulled her out of the drawer and laid her on the floor. Toombs watched as he cut the Necromonger robe off just below her hips, leaving her in flexible leggings. He picked her up again and stood to set her bottom on the countertop next to a toaster bearing the image of a happy cartoon chicken. Her legs dangled off the edge.

“Alright. Give me a hand- hold her here.”

“How...oh, this is fucking morbid. Really?”

“What, you’ve never made a dead woman into a backpack?”

Riddick was squatting to drape Kyra’s arms over his shoulders, laying her forearms over one another across his collarbones. He bound them together with one of the straps. Then her legs around his waist. Awkward. He readjusted. Toombs helped pass a strap around her back, binding her to Riddick’s torso. He tied her elbows to her knees with the trailing ends of the straps, being careful not to pinch her flesh. Her head lolled in a disturbing way. Toombs put her hood over it, and Riddick tucked the excess fabric under her arm, pinning it to his shoulder. When he was satisfied with the results, he nodded at Toombs.

“Let’s get lit.”

Aereon was at the top of the open ramp, affixing lights to a belt she wore. The heat of the planet already assaulted them. She had a headlamp on, pointing up instead of forward. Torches hung around her waist and on her pack. She put two on Kyra’s back at Riddick’s request, and Toombs secured his own to the straps of the backpack he would carry. Aereon and Riddick strapped small flashlights to the backs of their wrists.

“Remember, these things see with sound. If we lose the lights, hold very still. If they’re big, and close, you can try to stay in their blind spot which is dead center of their big-ass foreheads. But I suggest we don’t let it come to that. It won’t end well for us. Another reminder- be very careful not to draw your own blood. Cuts, scrapes, they’ll smell it. They’re gonna know we’re there, but if they smell blood they’ll push through the pain of the light to get at us. Make sure they’re the ones that bleed- they’ll turn on each other.”

Toombs strapped an extra blade to his thigh. “You hear that? Don’t cut yourself with that big knife, Aereon.”

Aereon was suddenly invisible, then pressing that knife against his throat from behind. “I’ll most certainly try not to.”

He put his hands up in surrender. “Ok, then. Good, long as that’s clear I think we can get going.”

She smirked, and Riddick chuckled. She knew he’d like that.

They descended onto the planet’s surface and a hot wind snatched their breath, offering them a lungful of dust in exchange. The pillars towered over them on the hill as they walked toward the large entrance. It was a dark open mouth, at the base of the largest pillar, waiting to swallow them. They paused at the opening, turning on all of their lights.

“Toombs, you’re in front. Aereon, rear guard.” Riddick held an axe in his right hand, taken from one of the ship’s fire lockers, and a Necromonger sword in his left.

“Right, gotta protect the merchandise.” Toombs grinned unpleasantly as he unholstered a bulky pistol, which Riddick had tried to talk him out of, and mounted a light on the rail. “Alright, boys and girls, let’s kill some monsters.”

“Ready?” Riddick spoke quietly to Aereon.

“We can do this,” She replied.

He followed Toombs into the dark, and pushed his goggles up. He felt Aereon behind him, close and quiet. It was cooler as soon as they stepped inside, and there was a draft. Musty air, heavy with the scent of what was probably guano, whispered faintly past them. Aereon let it flow over her, through her. It carried pain.

Riddick felt it, too. “I smell death here. Old pain, lingering, from a long time ago.”

“Yes, ancient pain.”

“Smells like shit, to me,” Toombs grumbled.

From what they could see, so far they were alone. The hollow pillar of dirt they stood inside was full of dusty air, nothing more. Directly across from the entrance was a smaller opening. Toombs peered into it, flashing his gunlight around at the walls and ceiling.

“Clear. Let’s go, before I change my mind.”

The tunnel closed around them as they stepped through, arching overhead, three meters above the sloping floor. This passageway wasn’t made for them. Claw marks scored the walls and ceiling. As they advanced, the air grew thicker, more pungent, and the light from the surface dwindled to nothing. They walked for a long while, carefully, stepping over occasional clumps of dirt. Their path twisted, and rose, and fell. Toombs hesitated at each blind curve, cautiously creeping around until he could confirm they were clear. They began to see bones scattered underfoot. Riddick’s hands clenched the handles of his weapons and he quietly called a halt.

“After this next turn, the tunnel is gonna open up into a room full of bad. Stay close. We may have to put our backs together and shuffle through. If they get too close, slash and move, open them up and leave them for meat. And don’t hit ‘em with your brights unless they’re coming after you. We’re just gonna be an unappetizing glow passing through. Let’s see if we can make this quick and quiet.”

Aereon wiped the handles of her long knives on her robe one at a time, and gripped them again. She did as Riddick, and shut off her headlamp and wrist lights, leaving the torches glowing around her waist and pack. Toombs nodded and switched off his gunlight. They moved slowly through the curving tunnel. It widened out into a huge room. The walls were lumpy with smooth, rounded shapes. The ceiling, maybe 4m over their heads, was covered with small projections. The floor was alive, seething with various kinds of insect-like creatures crawling through the layer of droppings. Suddenly, Toombs stumbled over a bone, scuffling to regain his balance. They froze.

The walls, the ceiling, every surface, _rippled_ , and settled. Piercing whistles bounced off of them, giving the raptors a look at the intruders, who began moving quickly toward the exit.

“Oh, fuck,” said Toombs, and stopped short, as an adult raptor dropped to the ground in front of him.

He shot it several times, backing away.

“Toombs! Stay close! Turn on your light!”

He was near panic, but obeyed. The raptor was wounded, and still groggy from hibernation. It turned to the sound of Riddick’s voice and lunged for him as he dodged. Aereon intercepted with the beam of her headlamp and wrist lights, splashing light over its side. The beam of Toombs’ gunlight joined hers. The thing screamed and retreated as its skin bubbled, leaving their way open again. They ran for the exit as a swarm of bioraptors descended on their injured sibling. They could hear the crunching of bones under its dying squeals. Baby raptors swooped past them, crying, pushed back by their buffer of light.

Another raptor slid into their path, mouth open wide, full of teeth that looked like broken shards of crystal.

“Watch our backs!”

Riddick whirled the axe back and around, underhand, and caught the thing under its chin with the blunt end, knocking its head back, setting it up for the follow through with his sword which laid it’s throat open. He kicked it aside and turned to slice through another monster between him and Aereon. She and Toombs were busy slashing and shooting monsters of their own.

“Move! Now!”

They plunged into the tunnel again, Riddick in the rear. They were followed. And the tunnel was getting narrower.

“Toombs! Shoot this fucker! Aim for the body!”

Happy to oblige, Toombs fell back and emptied his clip into one of their pursuers, leaving a hearty meal for the others behind it. He paused long enough to watch the living fight over the body of the dead. Their angry screeches made him shudder. He took his place in front again, reloading as they went, silent. They trotted away, leaving the carnage in the dark.

The seemingly endless tunnel, again, twisted, and rose, and fell, disappearing behind them into black. The walls kept closing in.

“Fuck me sideways.” Toombs was shambling along in a crouch now, they all were.

“Thought I wasn’t your type.”

“Yeah, funny man, just keep makin’ funny. I’ll be laughing all the way to… whatever slam will take your ass.”

Riddick smirked. “Good luck with that.”

Eventually they had to stop. Abruptly, the tunnel had choked down to a hole in the dirt that made Toombs break out in a cold sweat.

“I think I’m gonna be sick. We’re not going to be crawling through there, we’ll be squirming. Squeezing through the anal sphincter of the gorram planet.”

Aereon pulled his pack off of him. “Sit down,” she said firmly. “Breathe.”

He didn’t argue.

Riddick also sat down and lit a flare. He threw it a short way down the tunnel behind them, just in case. Then he began to untie Kyra with Aereon’s help, and get her ready. He gently rearranged her limbs and clothing.

“I’m gonna go first. I’ll tie Kyra and the packs to my waist and drag them through behind me. When I get to the end of the constriction, I’ll do a little recon, and call back to you. Toombs, you’ll go next. If you can’t make it, I’ll throw you the rope and drag you through, too. Toombs? Alex!”

He flinched and looked up. “What?”

“I’ll bet you my share you don’t make it.”

“Fuck your reverse psychology bullshit, Riddick.”

“Is that a ‘no?’ ”

“No, it’s a ‘fuck you, asshole.’ I’ll take the bet.”

“I’ll be cheering for you, Mr. Toombs. Riddick, I insist on going through after you. If Mr. Toombs vomits, I don’t want to have to drag myself through it.”

Riddick’s laugh was explosive.

@@@@@@@@@@

They were moving through the tunnel, upright again after their second crawl, which had gone slightly better than the first. The second constriction had been somewhat more spacious than the first, so when Toombs vomited again, at least he didn’t have to slither through his sick. And, unlike the first time, he had made it all the way through on his own. Too bad he had chosen not to make another bet with Riddick.

Riddick wrinkled his nose. “You stink worse than the raptor shit.”

“Eat a dick.”

“Maybe later.”

Aereon interrupted, “We’re close. There should be another small room ahead, and then the crystal chamber. Don’t lose focus.”

“Thanks, Aereon, I was getting really distracted by the idea of eating puke dick.”

Aereon held back sharp words. Her discomfort was growing as they neared the crystal. It was probably the same for Riddick. Even Toombs likely felt it, but wouldn’t know what it was.

“The crystal is very powerful, it affects the flow of energy around it. And it is broken. Getting close to it will make us all feel irritable, perhaps even angry. It may amplify your fear. Acknowledge your feelings, and let them pass.”

Toombs grumbled, “I acknowledge that I feel like slapping the shit out of Riddick. But I’ll just let that pass.”

“Damn right you will. Not like you could even touch me if you tried.”

Aereon slipped between them and said as loudly as she dared, “That’s enough. There’s a room full of deadly monsters ahead. Save your anger for them.”

They moved on in silence. Riddick tilted his head to the side, briefly leaning it against Kyra’s, since no one was watching. He tried to let his aggravation go, shunting it aside, but it kept mounting. A knot inside him was coiling and twisting tighter the closer they got to the crystal.

“How long, Aereon?”

“We have approximately ten minutes.”

“Shit. That’s what I figured.”

They walked on, silently battling their demons. The tunnel widened gradually. Toombs nervously flashed his light in wider arcs to cover the expanding area, sweating in the cool air. They reached a bend where he looked back at Riddick questioningly. Riddick nodded. There was a larger void in the dirt ahead, he could feel it.

After the bend the walls flared into a circular high-domed space covered with raptors, and a sloping floor covered with bones, and spoor, and spoor-eating bugs. They pointed their bright lights down and carefully began to traverse the room, skirting a fetid pool of murky water that took up roughly half the floor. Bugs scurried away from their light and their feet. The raptors were still and silent, ominous masses hanging around them. As they drew closer to the exit, they each realized in turn that they were fucked. Toombs stopped. Aereon, confused, took another step to stand next to him. Riddick saw what they did, and moved past them, motioning for them to follow. This would be interesting. Two raptors were wedged into their exit, the opening to the crystal chamber.

Riddick got as close as he dared, Toombs and Aereon right behind him, and aimed all his bright lights at the raptor barrier. All hell broke loose. Toombs and Aereon added their lights to his, and watched as the raptors shrieked and clawed at each other, biting and snarling. They ripped each other apart. In the process they woke up the whole neighborhood. Aereon looked around the cavity behind them as a wave of bodies rose and the whistles began, then ran with her companions through the doorway.

There was a short segment of tunnel, then the crystal chamber rose above them, its full expanse hidden in gloom beyond the reach of their lights.

“Flares! Now! Over here, by the crystal!”

Aereon and Toombs flung their packs to the floor and produced flares. Riddick watched the doorway they’d just come through, shifting his grip on the axe. To his left and slightly behind him, hidden by Kyra’s head, a raptor dropped in front of Aereon and wrapped its tail around her arm. Simultaneously, Toombs lit his flare, and was able to stuff it between the raptor’s teeth, into its mouth, as he pulled Aereon back and put two bullets in its side. Screaming, it thrashed until Riddick sliced it open and kicked it away. It was rapidly dismembered and devoured by the raptors that had poured into the chamber. Riddick and Toombs quickly lit more flares and spread them out to form a tight perimeter around them and the crystal.

Riddick bandaged Aereon’s arm and watched in dismay as her blood seeped through the wrapping. He looked into her eyes. She was frightened and weary, but she nodded at him.

“Heal the crystal.”

The raptors were pressing them, coming close and fading back, whistling and screaming. The smell of Aereon’s blood must have been intoxicating, because they burned themselves and retreated over and over. Toombs relentlessly fired into them. Riddick handed his sword to Aereon, and his axe to Toombs. He untied Kyra as quickly as he could and laid her at the foot of the crystal. He was aware of Aereon spinning, sword flashing. On the other side of the crystal, Toombs roared as his gun clicked, and, rather than reload, he dropped it to hold the handle of the axe with both hands and swing.

Riddick took the shard out of his pocket and looked at it. It was so small. A tiny thing next to this huge black glass. He scanned the surface, looking for the wound. His search became desperate as he circled. That knot inside him choked his pounding heart. His companions were tiring. The monsters were tireless. The flares were burning down.

“I can’t see where it’s cracked!”

“Look up!” Aereon cried, and slashed a deep gouge across a raptor’s neck. It was immediately dragged into the dark.

Riddick looked up. There was a facet of the crystal above him that was hard to see, but seemed intact. He leaped and clutched the top edge of the enormous monolith. His face was inches from a gap in the smooth face. He held on with one arm to slide the shard in. The result was immediate and violent. A jolt of energy flung him from the crystal, and he landed in the circle of light, facing Kyra. An earthquake was beginning, he could feel a faint tremor become deeper and more intense, vibrating his bones. The shaking became heaving. Aereon and Toombs fell to the floor as well. Riddick crawled to Kyra, and pulled her to him. The noise of rock cracking, earth shifting, filled their ears and blotted out all other sounds. The raptors must have been crying out, they skittered over the floor and slid into each other, trying to escape the cacophony. Then, from high above them, light began to shine into the crystal chamber.

Great sections of dirt and stone were falling away from the dome overhead, falling down to a new ground level outside. The whole structure had shaken loose from the earth and risen above the plain, shedding the crust of millennia, exposing the crystal again. The chamber filled with light, and a hundred raptors burned. Riddick flinched and pulled his goggles down.

As the shaking subsided, the three looked around at each other and the chamber in stunned silence. They were shaken, and sore, but unharmed besides Aereon’s wound. She cradled her arm, and looked up through the dome.

“The great conjunction is at hand,” she said reverently.

And as the suns came into alignment, the most intense light they had ever experienced- pure white- poured from the crystal, climaxing in a flash like an explosion. Slowly, the light took shape in the room. It became huge, white, glowing people wearing crowns of light. Riddick could barely look at them, but he forced himself to. Tears streamed from his eyes. One of the beings spoke. In his head. He knew that no sound traveled through the air to vibrate his eardrums. This was telepathic.

“We have seen your loss in the light. The sacrifice of your friend. We know why you are here. You have healed this crystal, which we broke so long ago, ignorant of our own arrogance. We broke this world. Its pain echoes through you, and all who have touched it. And it circles back to us. We will make well what we can, and ask forgiveness for what has passed. Hold her now, and cherish her always. You are one, as all are one.”

The towering being bent low and extended an arm to Kyra. The white light flowed from their hand into her. Her cheeks flushed, and she stirred, and Riddick felt her breath on his neck. He looked down into her face, and saw life. She opened her eyes. He fell into them, right down to the center of the Uni-Verse.

“ _First thing I remember is fire. It’s a war, I think._ _Mother, mother- the monster..._ _”_

He saw Zhylaw, and a woman he knew was his mother, and fire, from an odd angle. He was being held, being strangled.

“ _Riddick, watch out!_ _My parents, the fire…_ _What’s happening?_ _”_

She watched fire consume her home, saw the charred remains, the blackened truncated hand poking up from the wreckage.

“ _We’re sharing our memories.”_

He was crying, hiding under a table, a big person stomped toward him menacingly.

“ _After my parents were killed I had a new home. Sometimes it was nice.”_

She sat at a table in a bright kitchen, smiling children laughed as they ran through, a woman with dark hair put a plate of food in front of her and made a silly face.

“ _Sometimes I’m happy, I have a teacher, a friend.”_

A book was open in his lap, a man with a kind face sat near him.

“ _But t_ _here’s no one here like me. I need to find...”_

“ _I need to find…”_

“ _Wait, it’s going away...”_

“ _It’s going away...”_

Toombs was shaking him. Calling his name.

“Dammit! What?”

“You totally fucking zoned out, man- both of you. The big glowy people are gone. I say we get the hell out of here! Lady, you were dead. I’m having a hard time with that, but, hello. Can we go now? I really need to do some normal things, like take a shit, get laid, and drink a fifth of gin, not necessarily in that order.” He stalked over to his pack and went about putting it on.

“I’da thought taking a shower would be on that list.”

Aereon approached and spoke gently, “Welcome back, Kyra. And Riddick- well done.”

Riddick looked up at her, his face still streaked with tears, “Aereon, I...”

“Yes, yes. Come now.” She, too, began readying her pack.

Kyra sat up and looked around, looked at her hands, and at him. “I remember Necropolis.”

He recognized the pain in her eyes.It reflected his own. “It’s where you died.”

“I remember. I remember everything.” She rubbed the circular marks below her ears, then slowly reached out to touch Riddick’s wet cheek, hesitantly, as if she was afraid he might flinch away from her. “Not just my own memories- the light...”

“It showed you your connections to the Uni-Verse.” Aereon explained what Kyra had trouble putting into words.

The bodies of the raptors were gone. Somehow Riddick knew they were all gone, every living raptor. Transformed. Made whole again. What form they took, he did not know. But he knew it would be safe to leave the castle and walk back to the ship. He got up, and pulled her to her feet. He took Aereon’s pack before she could hoist it onto her back, and she gave him a small grateful smile.

Kyra was a statue, transfixed by the crystal. She could still feel its light. She was light. Riddick watched her. Toombs was about to insist that they leave, once again, but Aereon held him back, shaking her head. He frowned, but kept still. When Kyra broke out of her trance she looked at her hands again, then hugged herself. She was light, but she was also flesh. Her eyes turned toward Riddick, then her body. Still holding herself, she walked into his chest and let him wrap her in his arms.

They stood together, breathing, bathed in the warm light of three suns.


End file.
